Electric hair dryer



April 3, 1962 J. H. KREMER ETAL 3,027,654

ELECTRIC HAIR DRYER Filed March 6, 1959 United States Patent() 3,027,654ELECTRIC HAIR DRYER Joseph H. Kremer and Jack Ashford, both of 105 E.29th St., New York, N.Y. Filed Mar. 6, 1959, Ser. No. 797,753 3 Claims.(Cl. 34-96) This invention relates to electric hair dryers, and moreparticularly to electric dryers of this type, which are intended for usein drying hair that has been given special treatments, as for example awaving treatment, or coloring, tinting, dyeing and the like.

In the past various types of electric hair dryers have been proposed andproduced. One widely used and com monly of the hand-held kind, hasconsisted of an electric, centrifugal air blower in conjunction with anelectric heating element, whereby a stream of warm or hot air isproduced, which may be directed against different portions of the head,to effect a drying of the hair, etc. In addition to this hand-held typeof hair dryer, circulating air dryers of larger size, arranged onbrackets or stanchions, have been employed, involving also the principleof utilizing an electric source of heat in conjunction with a stream ofair to carry away moisture and dry the hair and head.

Another type of dryer in common use has employed infra-red lamps orbulbs disposed in the upper portion of a dryer casing or housing, whichhave been directed downward to concentrate the infra-red rays on thehair and effect a drying by such procedure. This infra-red type ofelectric hair dryer has an advantage over the circulating-air type inthat the moist air and chemical vapors which were sometimes involved inthe drying, setting, waving and coloring process, were not driven offbut instead remained within the dryer casing, to exert an influence onthe hair or head.

A drawback of the circulating-air type of dryer has been the removal ofsuch vapors, often resulting in undesirable streaks of color, and anon-uniform drying and waving of the hair. While the infra-red lamp typeof dryer has to an extent improved this situation, it has not completelyeliminated the difficulty inasmuch as there still remainedconcentrations of heat below the bulb itself, which resulted in thechemicals in the hair drying unevenly or non-uniformly, and this againcaused color streaks, and a poor dyeing and waving procedure.

The above drawbacks and disadvantages of prior types of electric hairdryers are obviated by the present invention, and one object of theinvention is to provide a novel and improved electric hair dryer whicheffects a substantially uniform heating of the entire head or hair ofthe user, while at the same time retaining to a great extent themoisture and chemical vapors found to be necessary to obtain a completeand satisfactory hair treatment, whether this be a wave, a coloring ortinting process, or a dyeing process.

A further object of the invention is to provide a novel and improvedelectric hair drying device as above set forth, wherein concentrationsof heat are mainly avoided even though the source of heat itself is toan extent of a concentrated nature as distinguished from being uniformlydistributed throughout the entire interior of the dryer casing.

A still further object of the invention is to Provide an improvedelectric hair dryer as above set forth, which may be constructed ofmaterials and components readily available on the market, withoutrequiring special or highlytechnical fabricating procedures ormaterials.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide an improved andadvantageous electric hair dryer as above characterized, which isextremely simple in its construction, foolproof in its operation, andeconomical to fabricate and manufacture.

A feature of the invention resides in the provision of an improvedelectric hair dryer having the above advantages and which is virtuallymaintenance-free, whereby it requires very little if any servicingthroughout an extended period of use.

Other features and advantages will hereinafter appear.

In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. l is a view partly in side elevation and partly in verticalsection, of an improved electric hair dryer as provided by theinvention.

FIG. 2 is a horizontal sectional View, taken on the line 2 2 ofFIG. l.'L u y Y FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the electric heating elementper se, of the improved hair dryer.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary elevational viewv of one end of the heatingelement assembly, illustrating the mounting bracket by which vtheelement'is secured in the casing of the dryer. i

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary vertical section, taken on the line 5 5 of FIG.2.

Referring iirst to FIGS. l and 2, the electric hair dryer of theinvention as illustrated therein comprises a casing or housingdesignated generally by the numeral 10, said casing being especiallyarranged to be placed about the upper portion of the head of a user asindicated in FIG. l. The casing 10 has a large opening'12 in its lowerportion, to receive the head, and has a central, raised hollow crownportion 14 and also a curved or circular hollow rim portion 16communicating with and carried by the crown portion 14.

The casing 10 may be fabricated in any suitable manner and of suitablematerials, being shown as formed of stamped sheet metal inthe form of alarge shell or inverted cup having an enlarged peripheral or rim portionwhich forms the upper part of the curved hollow rim 16. The lower partof the hollow rim 16 may be constituted of a cooperable metal shellarranged to telescope with the upper rim part, as shown in FIG. l. Thus,the lower rim part is provided with the large central opening 12 foradmitting the head, as will be readily understood.

Any suitable type of supporting means may be provided, that shown inFIG. l comprising an upright stanchion 18 having a laterally extendingarm 20 provided with a downwardly bent extremity 22 which is secured tothe casing 10 by a suitable, manually operable adjustment bolt 24.

In accordance with the present invention, the casing 10 is provided withthe distinctive shape illustrated, involving the raised central crownportion 14 and the lower circular or annular hollow rim portion 16 ofappreciably larger diameter than the crown portion 14 for the purpose ofuniformly heating and treating the hair, as will be brought out ingreater detail below.

By the present invention, there is provided within the hollow rimportion 16 of the casing 10 an electric heating means which does notrequire an air blast to remove vapors as with prior circulating-airheaters, and which further does not produce concentrations of heat aswith infra-red electric lamps and the like, but instead effects auniform and desirable heating of the entire head and hair of the user,in conjunction with the special casing shape shown. Moreover, theelectric heating means as j provided by the invention is of extremelysimple and durable construction, and is trouble-free in its operationwhereby it will have a long period of usefulness without requiringservicing operations or the like.

In conjunction with such electric heating means and casing there isfurther provided by the invention a curved screen or shield adapted toenable heat and warm air to pass through it for the purpose of obtainingthe abovestatedY desired result of uniformly heating the air withoutrequiring forced circulating air and without involving removal ofmoisture and chemical vapors, or extreme localized` concentrations ofheat.

Accordingly, referring to FIGS. l, 2 and 3, the electric heating meansas illustrated therein comprises a curved, clad electric heating elementindicated generally by the numeral 28, said heating element beingconstituted of an electric heating wire surrounded by an insulatinglayer or medium and the said wire and insulation being. enclosed in aseamless tubular metal jacket or sleeve, this construction beingcommonly known in the heating art asa Calrod unit or heater. While. suchCalrod heaters have been produced with variousshapes, includingspirals,A

loops and the like, in accordance with this invention the heating means28 is constituted or arrangedy inthe form of a pair of elongate rodelements 30 and 31, the rod element'31 being disposed b'elow therodzelement, and the latter being of a discontinuous nature; having apoint of discontinuity intermediatel its length as indicated by thenumerat34, where-.connector portions 35 and 36areprovid'ech,extending'laterally of the rod 30 and upward, to enableelectrical connections to be established to the heating wireconstituting a' portion of the element 28. The ends of the upper andlower rod elements`30 and 31 are joined together by folded yoke portions40 and 42 as clearly illustrated in FIG. 3. As seen in this figure, theheatingelement 28 is generally of curved shape, and by virtueY of thedouble-bar or rod construction it is somewhat 'ati or strip-like innature in that the upper and lower rod elements define a curved surfacewhich may constitute .arportion ofa hypothetical cylinder.

The'curved heating element 28 preferably extends along only a` portionofthe hollow rim 16 of the casing 10, being shown in FIG. 2 as occupyingapproximately one half of: the rim, circumferentally.

The ends or yoke portions 40, 42 of the heating element 28 supported inthe rim 16 by means of suitable supporting. brackets 44 the upper andlower edges of which are. accommodated. in circular beaded portions 4Sof the rim, as clearly shown in FIG. 5.

In conjunction with the curved. heating element. 28 there is provided,within. the rim 16 a curved and preferably circular screen 47, which maybe advantageously constituted of wire screening, mesh or the like. Asalso.

shown in FIG. 5, the screen 47 may be carried by circular beadedportions 48 ofthe rim 16. Thus, in assembling they hair drying device,they heating element 28 may beV first secured to the upper part of therim 16 by a suitable connector fitting 50. as shown in FIG. l, with theend brackets 44 of the heating element already in place. Then, thecircular screen 47 may be put in place, whereupon the lower part of therim 16 may be fitted to the upper part and secured thereto, therebypositioning and holding treatments, including waving,` curling, tinting,coloring orV The provision of thei curved screen 47 results in much ofthe direct radiatiorrof heat from the element- 28 beingv intercepted,and this in conjunction with the;

dyeing.

relatively'low degree'V ofheat produced by the element, effectivelyprevents undesirable localized concentrations of heat'at the headorhair. The screen 47 permits a It will beunderstood that elec-- limitedVcirculation of air, whereby heated air from the element 28 may passthrough the screen and into the upper or crown portion 14 of the casing10. We have found that by such construction the head and hair of a userare uniformly heated and dried, and that it is not necessary for theheating element 28 to extend come pletely around the rim 16 because ofthe slow convection heating resulting from the arrangement shown, withthe limitations placed by the screen 47 upon direct radiation of heatfrom the element 28 to the hair. Instead, the casing 10 becomesuniformly heated, and warm moist air is present in lthe interior of thecasing, together with chemical vapors, to effecta uniform and desirable,advantageous heating and drying of the hair whereby streaking of thelatter and irregularities in the waving and coloring processes arevirtually entirely eliminated.

Moreover, it. will now be undersetood that the construction. of theimproved electric hair dryer is extremely simple and that it involvesrelatively few, non-moving componentswhich may be economicallyfabricated and assembled, andv which will not. readily get out of.order.

Variations andA modifications may beY made within the scope of theclaims,` and portions of the improvements may be used withoutothers.l

We claim:

l. An electric hair-dryingdevice especially adapted for usein-connection with moist,dyed hair,V comprising a casing arranged to `beplaced about the upper portion of the head and having an opening in itslower portion to receive the headthe inner periphery of said casingaround said opening lbeing larger than the head to permit said casing tobe spaced from the head and hair of the user at all points, said casinghaving a central, raised hollow closed crown portion and having belowthe crown, portion and communicating therewith a curved hollow rimextending beyond the diameter of said crown portion and forming acontinuation thereof extending outwardly and then downwardly and theninwardly to form an inwardly directed enclosed space; a curved cladelectric heating means disposed in the said enclosed portionof saidhollow rim and arranged to heat the interior of thecasing by radiationand convection; said heating means comprising a pair 0f elongate rodelements disposed side by side and arranged to be coextensive with eachother, said rod elementsat their ends being joined by folded yokeportions and having substantially the same curvature, one of the rodelements being disposed above the other within the said hollow rim; anda curved foraminous screen around the inner part of said hollow riminside of the heating,

means to permit heat from said heating means to reach the head and toprevent strands of hair from contacting said heating means.

2. The invention as defined in claim l, in which one of the said pair ofelongate rod elements is discontinuous at a. point intermediate itslength and has two connector portions which are angularly bent to extendlaterally of the rod element, for effecting electrical connectionthereto,

3. The invention as defined in claim l, in which there aresupportingbrackets engaging the folded yoke portions of the heating means, forsupporting said portions within the hollow rim. i

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

